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Colorado and California are both reliably Democratic voting states, but that isn’t stopping Donald Trump from holding campaign rallies in both states this week.

The former president announced he would visit Aurora, Colorado, on Friday, despite trailing Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points in the polls in the state. Then he’ll compete in Coachella, California, on Saturday, even though he has virtually no chance of winning California.

The decision to campaign in two states that have historically elected Democratic leadership and voted for Democratic presidential candidates is a cause for concern. But the strategy could motivate Republican or right-leaning voters to cast their ballots even if they don’t live in battleground states.

Trump’s campaign said his rally in Aurora would focus on immigration, particularly the influx of “violent Venezuelan prison gang members” that have turned the city into a “war zone.”

At rallies, the former president often uses Aurora as an example of a city overwhelmed by violent migrants. Similar to his pet-eating claim in Springfield, Ohio, Trump’s claim that gang members “took over the whole city” is based on a viral incident that was exaggerated.

Both the Democratic governor of Colorado and the Republican mayor of Aurora said Trump greatly exaggerated and misrepresented actual events.

While several members of the Tren de Aragua gang have been involved in isolated criminal incidents, including at two apartment complexes against which the allegations were made, police have identified at least 10 gang members and arrested eight.

Residents of the apartment buildings said The Denverite that they received death threats from “would-be vigilantes,” not Venezuelan gang members.

A recent Keating Research poll showed Harris leading Trump 53 percent to 42 percent. The last time Colorado voted for a Republican presidential candidate was in 2004, when the country elected George W. Bush.

At his Coachella rally, Trump will address the high costs of housing, food, gasoline and more that Californians face “thanks to Kamalanomics.”

California is the second most expensive state to live in, according to researchers at the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.

The former president has promised his supporters that his economic policies will bring higher wages, more jobs and a lower cost of living. However, Trump has not yet presented a detailed economic plan and economists have so far denied that Trump’s policies will deliver on his promises.

Trump’s campaign claims President Joe Biden and Harris are responsible for high consumer prices, housing costs and gasoline prices.

“This is the future Harris and Walz want for the rest of America – crippling inflation, unaffordable housing and sky-high gas prices. “If this is the California dream, then it is every American’s worst nightmare,” Trump’s campaign team said.

The last time California voted for a Republican presidential candidate was in 1988, when its electorate went to George HW Bush. Harris is ahead of Trump 60 to 34 percent New York Times Opinion poll.

Despite being a blue state, California is home to more than five million Republicans – a point made by a California Republican strategist Los Angeles Times.

Trump’s presence in the two states could motivate his supporters to vote anyway and could contribute to fewer votes.